Cosmonautics in Russia largely inherits the space programs of the Soviet Union. The main governing body of the space industry in Russia is the state corporation Roscosmos.
This organization controls a number of enterprises, as well as scientific associations, the vast majority of which were created during the Soviet era. Among them:
- Mission Control Center. Research division of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (FGUP TsNIIMash). Founded in 1960 and based in the science city called Korolev. The tasks of the MCC include the control and management of spacecraft flights, which can be serviced simultaneously in the amount of up to twenty vehicles. In addition, the MCC conducts calculations and studies aimed at improving the quality of apparatus control and solving some problems in the field of control.
- Star City is a closed urban-type settlement, which was founded in 1961 on the territory of the Shchelkovsky district. However, in 2009, it was separated into a separate district and removed from Shchelkovo. On the territory of 317.8 hectares there are residential buildings for all personnel, employees of Roscosmos and their families, as well as all cosmonauts who are also undergoing space training at the CTC. In 2016, the number of inhabitants of the town is more than 5600.
- Cosmonaut training center named after Yuri Gagarin. Founded in 1960 and located in Star City. Cosmonaut training is provided by a number of simulators, two centrifuges, an aircraft laboratory and a three-story hydro laboratory. The latter makes it possible to create weightlessness conditions similar to those on the ISS. In this case, a full-size layout of the space station is used.
- Baikonur Cosmodrome. It was founded in 1955 on an area of 6717 km² near the city of Kazaly, Kazakhstan. It is currently leased by Russia (until 2050) and is the leader in the number of launches - 18 launch vehicles in 2015, while Cape Canaveral is one launch behind, and the Kourou cosmodrome (ESA, France) has 12 launches per year. The maintenance of the cosmodrome includes two amounts: rent - $115 million, maintenance - $1.5 billion.
- The Vostochny cosmodrome began to be created in 2011 in the Amur Region, near the town of Tsiolkovsky. In addition to creating a second Baikonur in Russia, Vostochny is also intended for commercial flights. The spaceport is located near developed railway junctions, highways, and airfields. In addition, due to the successful location of Vostochny, the separated parts of launch vehicles will fall in sparsely populated areas or even in neutral waters. The cost of creating the cosmodrome will be about 300 billion rubles, a third of this amount has been spent in 2016. On April 28, 2016, the first rocket launch took place, which brought three satellites into Earth orbit. The launch of the manned spacecraft is scheduled for 2023.
- Cosmodrome "Plesetsk". Founded in 1957 near the town of Mirny, Arkhangelsk region. It occupies 176,200 hectares. "Plesetsk" is intended for launching strategic defense systems, unmanned space scientific and commercial vehicles. The first launch from the cosmodrome took place on March 17, 1966, when the Vostok-2 launch vehicle was launched, with the Kosmos-112 satellite on board. In 2014, the launch of the newest launch vehicle called Angara took place.
Launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome
Chronology of the development of domestic cosmonautics
The development of domestic cosmonautics dates back to 1946, when Experimental Design Bureau No. 1 was founded, the purpose of which is the development of ballistic missiles, launch vehicles, and satellites. In 1956-1957, the work of the Bureau designed the carrier rocket, the R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile, with the help of which, on October 4, 1957, the first artificial satellite Sputnik-1 was launched into the Earth's orbit. The launch took place at the Tyura-Tam research site, which was designed specifically for this purpose and which would later be named Baikonur.
On November 3, 1957, a second satellite was launched, this time with a living creature on board - a dog named Laika.
Laika is the first living creature to orbit the earth
Since 1958, launches of interplanetary compact stations began to study, within the framework of the program of the same name. On September 12, 1959, for the first time, a human spacecraft ("Luna-2") reached the surface of another cosmic body - the Moon. Unfortunately, "Luna-2" fell to the surface of the Moon at a speed of 12,000 km / h, as a result of which the structure instantly went into a gaseous state. In 1959, Luna-3 took pictures of the far side of the Moon, which allowed the USSR to name most of its landscape elements.
On this day in 1972, US President Richard Nixon approved the NASA program to create reusable transport spacecraft. Our review is dedicated to the most interesting and unusual projects of ships of this class from around the world.
Boeing X-20 Dyna Soar
The first reusable spacecraft was developed in the USA in 1963. The Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar project was a multi-purpose military orbital aircraft. Dyna-Soar was the most innovative space project of the time, but the construction of the first machines was soon stopped and the project was closed.
Spiral
In the mid-60s, the development of the Spiral project began in the USSR in response to the American Dyna-Soar. It was assumed that the orbital aircraft would be accelerated by a passenger airliner to a speed of about Mach 6. In 1969, development was suspended and continued into the mid-70s. Test flights were carried out on the subsonic MiG-105.11, but soon the project was closed completely.
space shuttle
The first shuttle under the legendary Space Shuttle program was launched on April 12, 1981. The design of the machine consisted of three stages: reusable solid rocket boosters, a fuel tank with liquid hydrogen and oxygen, and the orbiter itself. As conceived by the engineers, the shuttles were supposed to deliver cargo between the Earth and orbital stations. Over the entire history of the program, about 1,400 tons of various cargoes have been delivered. The program ended in 2011. A total of 135 launches of five shuttles were made: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor. Columbia and Challenger died in disasters.
Buran
In response to the American Shuttle, the development of the Energia-Buran program began in the Soviet Union in 1976. The first and only flight under this program was carried out on November 15, 1988 without the participation of pilots. In 1993, the program was officially closed.
Dawn
In 1985-1989, the development of the Zarya reusable spacecraft was carried out in the Soviet Union. In 1987, a draft design of the machine was created. The main distinguishing feature from other ships of that time was the landing mechanics using jet engines. However, due to funding cuts, the project was halted.
Avatar
The Indian Avatar program was announced in May 1998. According to engineers, the machine will provide the cheapest possible transportation of goods into orbit. Avatar will use conventional airfields for takeoff and landing. The construction of the first prototype of the spacecraft is carried out by the private company CIM Technologies.
Skylon
The British project Skylon by Reaction Engines Limited started in 2000. He is currently seeking funding. According to the engineers, the Skylon system ships will significantly reduce the cost of transporting goods to near-Earth orbit. The spacecraft will be able to carry about 200 tons of cargo. In 2013, the British government agreed to provide £60 million to support the project.
Shenlun
The Chinese reusable Shenlun (Spaceplane Dragon) has been under development since the early 2000s. It will be launched from an H-6K bomber. The Dragon made its first suborbital flight on January 8, 2011.
Rus
In 2009, RSC Energia began developing the Rus transport space system. The ship will be engaged in the delivery of goods into orbit and ensure the safety of the airspace. In addition, the module will carry out flights to the Moon. Unmanned tests will begin in 2018.
MAX
The development of the project began in 1980 and attracted the attention of many experts, but its development gained momentum only in 2012. At the moment, shuttles are being developed for takeoff from carrier aircraft M-55 "Geophysics" and ZM-T. The MAKS project involves the launch of tourists and small commercial cargo into orbit.
Last November, during the TVIW (Tennessee astronomy workshop on interstellar travel), Rob Sweeney - former Royal Air Force Squadron Leader, engineer and MSc in charge of the Icarus project - presented a report on the work done on the project for Lately. Sweeney refreshed the public's mind on the history of Icarus, from being inspired by the Daedalus project ideas highlighted in a BIS (British Interplanetary Society - the oldest organization supporting space research) report in 1978, to the joint decision of BIS and the Tau Zero enthusiast company to resume research in 2009 year, and until the latest news about the project, dated 2014.
The original project of 1978 had a simple, but difficult to implement goal - to answer the question posed by Enrique Fermi: "If there is intelligent life outside the Earth, and interstellar flights are possible, then why is there no evidence of other alien civilizations?". The Daedalus research focused on developing an interstellar spacecraft design using existing technology in reasonable extrapolations. And the results of the work thundered throughout the scientific world: the creation of such a ship is really possible. The report on the project was supported by a detailed plan of a ship using deuterium-helium-3 thermonuclear fusion from pre-harvested pellets. The Daedalus then served as the benchmark for all subsequent developments in interstellar travel for 30 years.
However, after such a long time, it was necessary to review the ideas and technical solutions adopted at Daedalus in order to assess how they stood the test of time. In addition, new discoveries were made during this period, a design change in accordance with them would improve the overall performance of the ship. The organizers also wanted to interest the younger generation in astronomy and the construction of interstellar space stations. The new project was named after Icarus, the son of Daedalus, which, despite the negative connotation of the name, corresponded to the first words in the report of the 78th year:
“We hope that this variant will replace the future design, similar to Icarus, which will reflect the latest discoveries and technical innovations, so that Icarus can reach heights not yet conquered by Daedalus. We hope that thanks to the development of our ideas, the day will come when humanity literally touches the stars.”
So, Icarus was created precisely as a continuation of Daedalus. The indicators of the old project to this day look very promising, but still need to be finalized and updated:
1) Daedalus used relativistic electron beams to compress fuel pellets, but subsequent studies showed that this method was not capable of providing the necessary impulse. Instead, ion beams are used in laboratories for thermonuclear fusion. However, such a miscalculation, which cost the National Fusion Complex 20 years of operation and $4 billion, showed the difficulty of handling fusion even under ideal conditions.
2) The main obstacle faced by the Daedalus is Helium-3. It does not exist on Earth, and therefore it must be mined from gas giants distant from our planet. This process is too expensive and complicated.
3) Another problem that Icarus will have to solve is the marriage of information about nuclear reactions. It was the lack of information that made it possible 30 years ago to make very optimistic calculations of the impact of irradiating the entire ship with gamma rays and neutrons, without the release of which a thermonuclear fusion engine cannot do.
4) Tritium was used in fuel pellets for ignition, but too much heat was released from the decay of its atoms. Without a proper cooling system, the ignition of the fuel will be accompanied by the ignition of everything else.
5) Decompression of fuel tanks due to emptying can cause an explosion in the combustion chamber. To solve this problem, weights have been added to the tank design to balance the pressure in different parts of the mechanism.
6) The last difficulty is the maintenance of the ship. According to the project, the ship is equipped with a pair of robots similar to R2D2, which, using diagnostic algorithms, will identify and repair possible damage. Such technologies seem very complex even now, in the computer era, to say nothing of the 70s.
The new design team is no longer limited to building an agile ship. To study objects, Icarus uses probes carried on board the ship. This not only simplifies the task of designers, but also significantly reduces the time for studying star systems. Instead of deuterium-helium-3, the new spacecraft runs on pure deuterium-deuterium. Despite the greater release of neutrons, the new fuel will not only increase the efficiency of engines, but also eliminate the need to extract resources from the surface of other planets. Deuterium is actively mined from the oceans and used in heavy water nuclear power plants.
However, mankind has not yet been able to obtain a controlled decay reaction with the release of energy. The protracted race of laboratories around the world for exothermic nuclear fusion slows down the design of the ship. So the question of the optimal fuel for an interstellar vessel remains open. In an attempt to find a solution, in 2013 an internal competition was held among BIS units. The WWAR Ghost team from the University of Munich won. Their design is based on thermonuclear fusion using a laser, which ensures that the fuel is quickly heated to the required temperature.
Despite the originality of the idea and some engineering moves, the contestants could not solve the main dilemma - the choice of fuel. In addition, the winning ship is huge. It is 4-5 times larger than the Daedalus, and other fusion methods may need less space.
Accordingly, it was decided to promote 2 types of engines: based on thermonuclear fusion and based on the Bennett pinch (plasma engine). In addition, in parallel with deuterium-deuterium, the old version with tritium-helium-3 is also being considered. In fact, helium-3 gives the best results in any kind of propulsion, so scientists are working on ways to get it.
An interesting relationship can be traced in the works of all participants in the competition: some structural elements (probes for environmental research, fuel storage, secondary power supply systems, etc.) of any ship remain unchanged. The following can be unequivocally stated:
- The ship will be hot. Any method of burning any of the presented types of fuel is accompanied by the release of a large amount of heat. Deuterium requires a massive cooling system due to the direct release of thermal energy during the reaction. The magnetic plasma engine will create eddy currents in the surrounding metals, also heating them. Radiators already exist on Earth with sufficient power to effectively cool bodies with temperatures above 1000 C, it remains to adapt them to the needs and conditions of a starship.
- The ship will be colossal. One of the main tasks assigned to the Icarus project was to reduce the size, but over time it became clear that a lot of space is required for thermonuclear reactions. Even the smallest mass design options weigh tens of thousands of tons.
- The ship will be long. "Dedalus" was very compact, each part of it was combined with another, like a nesting doll. In Icarus, attempts to minimize the radioactive impact on the ship led to its lengthening (this is well demonstrated in the Firefly project by Robert Freeland).
Rob Sweeney said that a group from Drexel University has joined the Icarus project. The "newcomers" are promoting the idea of using PJMIF (a system based on a jet of plasma using magnets, while the plasma is stratified, providing conditions for nuclear reactions). This principle is currently the most effective. In fact, this is a symbiosis of two methods of nuclear reactions, it has incorporated all the advantages of inertial and magnetic thermonuclear fusion, such as a reduction in the mass of the structure, and a significant reduction in cost. Their project is called Zeus.
This meeting was followed by TVIW, where Sweeney set a tentative completion date for the Icarus project of August 2015. The final report will include references to modifications to old Daedalus designs and innovations entirely created by the new team. The seminar ended with a monologue by Rob Sweeney, in which he said: “The mysteries of the Universe are waiting for us somewhere out there! Time to get out of here!"
In 2011, the United States found itself without space vehicles capable of delivering a person into low Earth orbit. Now American engineers are designing more new manned spacecraft than ever before, with private companies leading the way, which means that space exploration will become much cheaper. In this article, we will talk about seven designed vehicles, and if at least some of these projects come to life, a new golden age in manned astronautics will come.
- Type: habitable capsule Creator: Space Exploration Technologies / Elon Musk
- Launch date: 2015
- Destination: flights to orbit (to the ISS)
- Chances of success: very good
When Elon Musk founded his company Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, in 2002, skeptics saw no prospects in this. However, by 2010, his startup became the first private enterprise that managed to repeat what had been the diocese of the state until that time. A Falcon 9 rocket launched an unmanned Dragon capsule into orbit.
The next step in Musk's journey into space is the development of a reusable Dragon vehicle capable of carrying people on board. It will bear the name DragonRider and is intended for flights to the ISS. Using an innovative approach in both design and operation, SpaceX claims that the transportation of passengers will cost only $20 million per passenger seat (a passenger seat in the Russian Soyuz today costs the United States $63 million).
The path to the manned capsule
Improved interior
The capsule will be equipped for a crew of seven. Already inside the unmanned version, earth pressure is maintained, so it will not be difficult to adapt it for people to stay.
Wider portholes
Through them, astronauts will be able to observe the process of docking with the ISS. In future modifications of the capsule - with the possibility of landing on a jet stream - an even wider view will be required.
Additional engines developing 54 tons of thrust for emergency ascent into orbit in the event of a launch vehicle failure.
Dream Chaser - Descendant of the space shuttle
- Type: rocket-launched spaceplane Creator: Sierra Nevada Space Systems
- Planned launch into orbit: 2017
- Purpose: orbital flights
- Chances of success: good
Of course, space planes have certain advantages. Unlike a conventional passenger capsule, which, falling through the atmosphere, can only slightly correct the trajectory, the shuttles are able to carry out maneuvers during descent and even change the destination airfield. In addition, they can be reused after a short service. However, the accidents of two American shuttles showed that space planes are by no means an ideal means for orbital expeditions. Firstly, it is expensive to carry cargo on the same vehicles as the crews, because using a purely cargo ship, you can save on security and life support systems.
Secondly, attaching the shuttle to the side of the boosters and fuel tank increases the risk of damage from accidentally falling off elements of these structures, which caused the death of the Columbia shuttle. However, Sierra Nevada Space Systems swears that it will be able to whitewash the reputation of the orbital space plane. To do this, she has a Dream Chaser - a winged vehicle for delivering crews to the space station. Already, the company is fighting for NASA contracts. The design of the Dream Chaser got rid of the main shortcomings characteristic of the old space shuttles. Firstly, now they intend to carry cargo and crews separately. And secondly, now the ship will be mounted not on the side, but on top of the Atlas V launch vehicle. At the same time, all the advantages of the shuttles will be preserved.
Suborbital flights of the apparatus are scheduled for 2015, and it will be launched into orbit two years later.
How is it inside?
On this device, seven people can go into space at once. The ship takes off on top of the rocket.
At a given site, it separates from the carrier and then can moor to the docking port of the space station.
The Dream Chaser has never flown into space yet, but it is already ready, at least for runway runs. In addition, it was dropped from helicopters, testing the aerodynamic capabilities of the ship.
New Shepard - Amazon's Secret Ship
- Type: habitable capsule Creator: Blue Origin / Jeff Bezos
- Launch date: unknown
- Chances of success: good
Jeff Bezos, the 49-year-old founder of Amazon.com and a billionaire with a vision for the future, has been carrying out secret plans for space exploration for more than a decade. From his $25 billion net worth, Bezos has already invested many millions in a daring endeavor that has been named Blue Origin. His craft will take off from an experimental launch pad built (with FAA approval, of course) in a remote corner of West Texas.
In 2011, the company released footage showing the New Shepard cone-shaped missile system being prepared for testing. It takes off vertically to a height of one and a half hundred meters, hangs there for a while, and then smoothly falls to the ground with the help of a jet stream. According to the project, in the future, the launch vehicle will be able, after throwing the capsule to a suborbital height, independently return to the cosmodrome using its own engine. This is a much more economical scheme than catching the used stage in the ocean after splashdown.
After Internet entrepreneur Jeff Bezos founded his space company in 2000, he kept its very existence a secret for three years. The company launches its experimental vehicles (like the capsule pictured) from a private spaceport in West Texas.
The system consists of two parts.
The capsule for the crew, in which normal atmospheric pressure is maintained, separates from the carrier and flies to an altitude of 100 km. The sustainer engine allows the rocket to make a vertical landing near the launch pad. The capsule itself is then returned to earth using a parachute.
The launch vehicle lifts the apparatus from the launch pad.
SpaceShipTwo - Pioneer in the travel business
- Type: air-launched spacecraft from carrier aircraft Created by: Virgin Galactic /
- Richard Branson
- Launch date: scheduled for 2014
- Purpose: suborbital flights
- Chances of success: very good
The first of the SpaceShipTwo vehicles during a test gliding flight. In the future, four more of the same apparatus will be built, which will begin to carry tourists. Already 600 people have signed up for the flight, including celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Ashton Kutcher and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Built by famed designer Burt Rutan in collaboration with tycoon Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin Group, the craft laid the foundation for the future of space tourism. Why not roll everyone into space? The new version of this device will be able to accommodate six tourists and two pilots. The journey into space will consist of two parts. First, the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft tower (its length is 18 m, and its wingspan is 42) will lift the SpaceShipTwo apparatus to a height of 15 km.
Then the rocket will separate from the carrier aircraft, start its own engines and blast into space. At an altitude of 108 km, passengers will have an excellent view of the curvature of the earth's surface, and the serene glow of the earth's atmosphere - and all this against the backdrop of black cosmic depths. A ticket worth a quarter of a million dollars will allow travelers to enjoy weightlessness, but only for four minutes.
Inspiration Mars - Kiss over the Red Planet
- Type: interplanetary transport Creator: Inspiration Mars Foundation / Dennis Tito
- Launch date: 2018
- Destination: flight to Mars
- Chances of success: doubtful
Honeymoon (one and a half years long) in an interplanetary expedition? The Inspiration Mars fund, which is run by former NASA engineer, investment specialist and first space tourist Dennis Tito, wants to offer this opportunity to a select couple. Tito's group expects to take advantage of the alignment of the planets that will occur in 2018 (this happens once every 15 years). "Parade" will allow flying from Earth to Mars and returning along a free return trajectory, that is, without burning additional fuel. Next year, Inspiration Mars will begin accepting applications for a 501-day expedition.
The ship will have to fly at a distance of 150 km from the surface of Mars. To participate in the flight, it is supposed to choose a married couple - possibly newlyweds (the issue of psychological compatibility is important). “The Inspiration Mars Foundation estimates that it will need to raise $1-2 billion. We are laying the groundwork for things that previously seemed simply unthinkable, such as, say, going to other planets,” says Marco Cáceres, head of space research at Teal Group.
- Type: space plane capable of taking off on its own Creator: XCOR Aerospace
- Planned launch date: 2014
- Purpose: suborbital flights
- Chances of success: quite good
California-based XCOR Aerospace (headquartered in Mojave) believes they hold the key to the cheapest suborbital flights. The company is already selling tickets for its 9-metre Lynx, which seats just two passengers. Tickets cost $95,000.
Unlike other space planes and passenger capsules, the Lynx does not need a booster to go into space. By launching jet engines specially designed for this project (they will burn kerosene with liquid oxygen), Lynx will take off from the runway in a horizontal direction, as an ordinary aircraft does, and, only after accelerating, will soar steeply along its space trajectory. The first test flight of the device may take place in the coming months.
Takeoff: The space plane accelerates along the runway.
Climb: After reaching Mach 2.9, it climbs steeply.
Target: Approximately 3 minutes after takeoff, the engines shut down. The aircraft follows a parabolic trajectory as it flies through suborbital space.
Return to the dense layers of the atmosphere and landing.
The device gradually slows down, cutting circles in a downward spiral.
Orion - Passenger capsule for a large company
- Type: manned spacecraft for interstellar travel
- Creator: NASA / US Congress
- Launch Date: 2021-2025
NASA has already conceded flights to near-Earth orbit without regret to private companies, but the agency has not yet abandoned its claims to deep space. To planets and asteroids, perhaps, the Orion multi-purpose habitable apparatus will fly. It will consist of a capsule docked with a module, which, in turn, will contain a power plant with a supply of fuel, as well as a living compartment. The first test flight of the capsule will take place in 2014. It will be launched into space by a 70-meter long Delta launch vehicle. Then the capsule must return to the atmosphere and land in the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
For long-distance expeditions, for which Orion is being prepared, a new rocket will apparently also be built. NASA's Huntsville, Alabama facilities are already working on a new 98-meter Space Launch System rocket. This super-heavy vehicle should be ready by the time (and if) NASA astronauts are going to fly to the Moon, to some asteroid, or even further. "We're increasingly thinking about Mars," says Dan Dumbacher, director of NASA's Exploratory Systems Engineering Division, "as our main goal." True, some critics say that such claims are somewhat excessive. The projected system is so huge that NASA will be able to use it no more than once every two years, since one launch will cost $6 billion.
When will man set foot on an asteroid?
In 2025, NASA plans to send astronauts in the Orion spacecraft to one of the asteroids located near the Earth - 1999AO10. The journey should take five months.
Launch: An Orion with a crew of four will take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Flight: After five days of flight, Orion, using the force of gravity of the Moon, will make a turn around it and head for 1999AO10.
Meeting: astronauts will fly to the asteroid two months after launch. They will spend two weeks on its surface, but there is no talk of a real landing, since this space rock has too little gravity. Rather, crew members would simply attach their ship to the asteroid's surface and collect mineral samples.
Return: Since the asteroid 1999AO10 has been gradually approaching Earth all this time, the return trip will be a little shorter. Once in Earth orbit, the capsule will separate from the ship and splash down in the ocean.
Modern rocket engines do a good job of putting technology into orbit, but are completely unsuitable for long-term space travel. Therefore, for more than a decade, scientists have been working on the creation of alternative space engines that could accelerate ships to record speeds. Let's look at seven main ideas from this area.
EmDrive
To move, you need to push off from something - this rule is considered one of the unshakable pillars of physics and astronautics. What exactly to push off from - from the earth, water, air or a jet of gas, as in the case of rocket engines - is not so important.
A well-known thought experiment: imagine that an astronaut went into outer space, but the cable connecting him to the ship suddenly broke and the man begins to slowly fly away. All he has is a toolbox. What are his actions? Correct answer: he needs to throw tools away from the ship. According to the law of conservation of momentum, a person will be thrown away from the tool with exactly the same force as the tool is from the person, so he will gradually move towards the ship. This is jet propulsion - the only possible way to move in empty space. True, EmDrive, as experiments show, has some chances to refute this unshakable statement.
The creator of this engine is British engineer Roger Schaer, who founded his own company Satellite Propulsion Research in 2001. The design of EmDrive is very extravagant and is a metal bucket in shape, sealed at both ends. Inside this bucket is a magnetron that emits electromagnetic waves - the same as in a conventional microwave. And it turns out to be enough to create a very small, but quite noticeable thrust.
The author himself explains the operation of his engine through the pressure difference of electromagnetic radiation at different ends of the "bucket" - at the narrow end it is less than at the wide one. This creates a thrust directed towards the narrow end. The possibility of such engine operation has been disputed more than once, but in all experiments, Shaer's installation shows the presence of thrust in the intended direction.
Among the experimenters who tested the "bucket" Schaer, organizations such as NASA, the Technical University of Dresden and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The invention was tested in a variety of conditions, including in vacuum, where it showed a thrust of 20 micronewtons.
This is very small relative to chemical jet engines. But, given that Shaer's engine can operate for an arbitrarily long time, since it does not need a supply of fuel (solar batteries can provide the magnetron), it is potentially capable of accelerating spacecraft to enormous speeds, measured as a percentage of the speed of light.
To fully prove the efficiency of the engine, it is necessary to carry out many more measurements and get rid of the side effects that can be generated, for example, by external magnetic fields. However, alternative possible explanations for the anomalous thrust of the Shaer engine, which, in general, violates the usual laws of physics, are already being put forward.
For example, versions are put forward that the engine can create thrust due to interaction with the physical vacuum, which at the quantum level has non-zero energy and is filled with virtual elementary particles constantly born and disappearing. Who will eventually turn out to be right - the authors of this theory, Shaer himself or other skeptics, we will find out in the near future.
solar sail
As mentioned above, electromagnetic radiation exerts pressure. This means that theoretically it can be converted into movement - for example, with the help of a sail. Just as the ships of past ages caught the wind in their sails, the spacecraft of the future would catch the sun or any other starlight in their sails.
The problem, however, is that the pressure of light is extremely low and decreases with increasing distance from the source. Therefore, to be effective, such a sail must have a very low weight and a very large area. And this increases the risk of destruction of the entire structure when it encounters an asteroid or other object.
Attempts to build and launch solar sailers into space have already taken place - in 1993 Russia tested a solar sail on the Progress spacecraft, and in 2010 Japan successfully tested it on its way to Venus. But no ship has yet used the sail as the main source of acceleration. Somewhat more promising in this regard is another project - an electric sail.
electric sail
The sun emits not only photons, but also electrically charged particles of matter: electrons, protons and ions. All of them form the so-called solar wind, which every second carries away about one million tons of matter from the surface of the star.
The solar wind extends billions of kilometers and is responsible for some of the natural phenomena on our planet: geomagnetic storms and the northern lights. The Earth is protected from the solar wind by its own magnetic field.
The solar wind, like the air wind, is quite suitable for traveling, you just need to make it blow into the sails. The project of an electric sail, created in 2006 by the Finnish scientist Pekka Janhunen, outwardly has little in common with the solar one. This engine consists of several long thin cables, similar to the spokes of a wheel without a rim.
Thanks to the electron gun emitting against the direction of travel, these cables acquire a positive charged potential. Since the mass of an electron is approximately 1800 times less than the mass of a proton, the thrust created by the electrons will not play a fundamental role. Electrons of the solar wind are not important for such a sail either. But positively charged particles - protons and alpha radiation - will be repelled from the cables, thereby creating jet thrust.
Although this thrust will be about 200 times less than that of a solar sail, the European Space Agency has become interested. The fact is that an electric sail is much easier to design, manufacture, deploy and operate in space. In addition, with the help of gravity, the sail also allows you to travel to the source of the stellar wind, and not just away from it. And since the surface area of such a sail is much smaller than that of the sun, it is much less vulnerable to asteroids and space debris. Perhaps we will see the first experimental ships on an electric sail in the next few years.
ion engine
The flow of charged particles of matter, that is, ions, is emitted not only by stars. Ionized gas can also be created artificially. Normally, gas particles are electrically neutral, but when its atoms or molecules lose electrons, they turn into ions. In its total mass, such a gas still does not have an electric charge, but its individual particles become charged, which means they can move in a magnetic field.
In an ion thruster, an inert gas (usually xenon is used) is ionized by a stream of high-energy electrons. They knock electrons out of atoms, and they acquire a positive charge. Further, the resulting ions are accelerated in an electrostatic field to speeds of the order of 200 km / s, which is 50 times greater than the speed of gas outflow from chemical jet engines. However, modern ion thrusters have a very small thrust - about 50-100 millinewtons. Such an engine would not even be able to move off the table. But he has a serious plus.
The high specific impulse can significantly reduce fuel consumption in the engine. To ionize the gas, energy obtained from solar panels is used, so the ion engine is able to work for a very long time - up to three years without interruption. For such a period, he will have time to accelerate the spacecraft to speeds that chemical engines never dreamed of.
Ion thrusters have roamed the solar system more than once as part of various missions, but usually as auxiliary, not primary. Today, as a possible alternative to ion engines, they are increasingly talking about plasma engines.
Plasma engine
If the degree of ionization of atoms becomes high (about 99%), then such an aggregate state of matter is called plasma. The state of plasma can be reached only at high temperatures, therefore, in plasma engines, ionized gas is heated to several million degrees. Heating is carried out using an external energy source - solar panels or, more realistically, a small nuclear reactor.
The hot plasma is then ejected through the rocket's nozzle, producing thrust ten times greater than in an ion thruster. One example of a plasma engine is the VASIMR project, which has been developing since the 1970s. Unlike ion thrusters, plasma thrusters have not yet been tested in space, but high hopes are pinned on them. It is the VASIMR plasma engine that is one of the main candidates for manned flights to Mars.
Fusion engine
People have been trying to tame the energy of thermonuclear fusion since the middle of the 20th century, but so far they have not been able to do it. Nevertheless, controlled thermonuclear fusion is still very attractive, because it is a source of enormous energy obtained from very cheap fuel - isotopes of helium and hydrogen.
At the moment, there are several projects for the design of a jet engine powered by thermonuclear fusion. The most promising of them is considered to be a model based on a reactor with magnetic plasma confinement. The thermonuclear reactor in such an engine will be an unpressurized cylindrical chamber measuring 100–300 meters in length and 1–3 meters in diameter. Fuel must be supplied to the chamber in the form of high-temperature plasma, which, at sufficient pressure, enters into a nuclear fusion reaction. Coils of a magnetic system located around the chamber should keep this plasma from contact with the equipment.
The thermonuclear reaction zone is located along the axis of such a cylinder. With the help of magnetic fields, extremely hot plasma flows through the reactor nozzle, creating tremendous thrust, many times greater than that of chemical engines.
Antimatter Engine
All the matter around us consists of fermions - elementary particles with a half-integer spin. These are, for example, quarks that make up protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei, as well as electrons. Each fermion has its own antiparticle. For an electron it is a positron, for a quark it is an antiquark.
Antiparticles have the same mass and the same spin as their usual "comrades", differing in the sign of all other quantum parameters. Theoretically, antiparticles are capable of making up antimatter, but so far, antimatter has not been registered anywhere in the Universe. For fundamental science, it is a big question why it is not there.
But in the laboratory, you can get a certain amount of antimatter. For example, an experiment was recently conducted comparing the properties of protons and antiprotons that were stored in a magnetic trap.
When antimatter and ordinary matter meet, a process of mutual annihilation occurs, accompanied by a surge of colossal energy. So, if we take a kilogram of matter and antimatter, then the amount of energy released during their meeting will be comparable to the explosion of the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful hydrogen bomb in the history of mankind.
Moreover, a significant part of the energy will be released in the form of photons of electromagnetic radiation. Accordingly, there is a desire to use this energy for space travel by creating a photon engine similar to a solar sail, only in this case the light will be generated by an internal source.
But in order to effectively use radiation in a jet engine, it is necessary to solve the problem of creating a "mirror" that would be able to reflect these photons. After all, the ship somehow needs to push off in order to create thrust.
No modern material simply can withstand the radiation born in the event of such an explosion and instantly evaporate. In their science fiction novels, the Strugatsky brothers solved this problem by creating an "absolute reflector". Nothing like this has ever been done in real life. This task, as well as the issues of creating a large amount of antimatter and its long-term storage, is a matter for the physics of the future.
